One might
well ask whether we really need
God and religion, considering all the
trouble they have and
continue to cause.

I
believe we do.
At least, the kind of God
and religion I have in
mind - both for our spiritual
well-being and, because of
the situation on board
Spaceship Earth,
for our
physical survival as well,
i.e. as the best, probably
the only, way of creating a sustainable
society on our finite
and vulnerable planet, before
a ruthless
mother nature does it for us.

The
word, religion,
is derived from Latin "re
ligare",
meaning to "tie or
bind together".
It is in this sense that we
need religion, a Religion
of Sustainability,
comprising individuals and
groups of individuals
(households,
residential communities,
work
communities (cooperatives, companies,
etc.),
political communities
(parties), educational
communites, etc), bound
together" by
values, morals (rules of
right behaviour), attitudes
and aspirations on which an alternative,
more
enlightened - above all,
sustainable- socio-economic order can be
based. The most suitable
generic name that I can
think of for
such a religion is
"Society of Friends of
the Earth".
"Generic" because
it needs to comprise a
multitude of diverse sects
and societies, i.e. people
bound together (re ligare)
by more particular, morals
and attitudes, as well as
perhaps shared beliefs, location,
history, race, etc. We need
religions
(religious societies) to
suit everyone. Those who cannot
find what they are looking
for among those already in
existence should be free
(indeed, encouraged) to create their own.

We are
all bound to and dependent
on the society in
which we live - even the
self-made man and the rugged individualist,
who still have to buy from others
much of
what they need. Money provides apparent,
but not actual independence
(see Money . . .
). Modern, mass
consumer society is
based largely
on the
amoral and fundamentally
unsustainable use of money
within the framework of a
socio-economic order rooted in our "more
animal than human "
nature. I envisage it being
replaced - gradually,
democratically and
non-violently - by a large
number of diverse, but
sustainable, (religious)
societies
rooted in man's more
enlightened human nature.

The
kind of religion I have in
mind does not require a belief in
God, although the concept of
God can be very useful. For
me it puts
a handle on and helps me relate to a far deeper sense of personal and
external reality than would otherwise
be possible. Just as I create images
of atoms and molecules which help me to understand and deal with the physical
world, so I also create for myself an image
(concept) of God which helps
me cope with life and the
fundamental questions,
problems and fears
associated with it. I need
(a concept
of) "God" just as a
child needs its father, as a
higher power and authority to
guide and take care of me. I also need
"someone" to thank for all
my blessings. To an atheist
who insists that there is no
God, I reply: if I imagine
him to exist, then (in my
imagination, at the very
least) he does exist.

Exactly
what the
Reality behind
my concept of God (and atoms) is, I
cannot be sure, but although
I cannot grasp or know Truth
and Reality, it is a
great comfort to remind
myself that they exist.

The
Bible and Judaeo-Christian concepts of
God have had a profound influence
on western civilisation. However, the ancient author of Genesis could
hardly have got it
more wrong
when he wrote that “God created man in his own image”. As
the Greek philosopher, Xenophanes, pointed out
about 400 years before the
birth of Jesus, quite the contrary is true: it
is man who creates the gods
(or God),
i.e. his concept of them, in his
- that is, man's - image.
This insight, which has been
tragically neglected, when
not ruthlessly suppressed
certainly by Christianity,
is a cornerstone of my
religion.

The
Judaeo-Christian concept of God has evolved and
improved over the centuries, becoming
a lot more rational and "humane" than Yahweh
(Jehovah) of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the Christian doctrine of God having a son (literally rather than in the
metaphorical sense that we might all
be considered children of God)
is an example of the ridiculous extremes to which
God's personification can be taken - and of human
gullibility.

Why is it that even today,
even in some of the most
technologically advanced and
educated nations, so many
people still profess to believe such obvious nonsense? Not just
that Jesus was the "Son of God", but that he was born of a virgin, performed all kinds of
miracles and was raised from the
dead,?

Probably it is because so many others believe
it, and we are genetically programmed
and conditioned to give
credibility to authority and majority.

Notwithstanding Christianity's
and the Bible's immense historical and
cultural importance, as a source of knowledge, spiritual strength and moral guidance,
they are "holy"
inadequate today. Worse,
they are a hindrance, standing in the
way and obstructing
the view of more truthful, enlightened
and useful concepts of God.

I am not suggesting that Christianity is all bad.
It has played such an important role in the development of
western civilisation
that it is impossible even to attempt an objective
assessment. From the little
that is known about him, Jesus seems to have been a
remarkable person,
who said some wise - and some not so wise - things;
and certainly there have
been and still are
many good Christians, whom I do not wish, but perhaps cannot avoid offending.

We need new religions, based on more truthful assumptions and more enlightened concepts of God than those portrayed in the
Bible, which when believed to be the authoritative
"word of God",
rather than of fallible men,
has been a source of terrible folly, suffering and
injustice.

This section of my homepage
is an attempt to
provide a basis and an
example for such religions, based on my own
experience and concepts of God, my view of the world, and on
my own sense of morals (right behaviour). Thus,
I call my own particular
sect of the "Society of
Friends of the Earth" Roger's World.
I have had no visions
of God, his angels or
anything like that, but I do
feel a calling, one
which was a
long time developing and in
the past few years has
matured and become quite well
established. Not that I
don't still have my doubts
from time to time, that perhaps I'm
just deluding and making a
fool of myself. I don't
think so, but you will
decide for yourself, of
course. There's
no threat of damnation or
hell fire if you think I'm
nuts. You can make fun of my
religion and my (concept of)
God if you like. Perhaps I will
even laugh with you. If there is
one thing I hate it is a
religion and a God which
take themselves too
seriously. The crime of
blasphemy, I am sure, was
invented by men (always
men!) of little faith, in
order to defend inadequate
concepts of God and
religion, and their own
vain, unfounded authority.

The most important
festival in Roger's World is
the
Sunturn, which
I claim back from Christianity,
where it is known as
Christmas.

My starting point
is the story
of Adam and Eve.

**************

Religions of
sustainability should be
"open source" religions
(their sources of
inspiration being open to
scrutiny, critisism and
alteration), in contrast to
traditional "propriety"
religions, whose sources of
inspiration are given
supernatural and
unquestionable authority.